l'Autre Saint-Jean at Parc du Pélican: Lots of bright lights in your face

CTV Montreal had one of their viewer polls on Thursday asking whether they plan to celebrate the Fête nationale. The result: 91% said no.

Those who believe in the stereotype of CFCF viewers, that they're hardcore federalist anglophones who despise Quebec and the French language, won't be surprised by that number. But I was. (And it wasn't exactly a fluke either, their viewer polls, though voluntary and unscientific, still attract more than 1,000 responses on a regular basis, and this was no exception.)

It's kind of depressing. Like me, many anglos complain that they're not made to feel included in Quebec society, but then when given the opportunity to participate in it, they turn it down.

On Thursday night, I headed to Parc du Pélican in Rosemont for l'Autre Saint-Jean. You might remember that as the event that attracted a lot of controversy for inviting two anglophone acts to play there. That's how I learned about it, and when the organizers stuck to their guns and kept them on the ticket caved to public pressure and re-invited them after caving to lesser public pressure by uninviting them in the first place, I decided to show my support and attend the party. There were some boos for the artists, but also lots of cheers, as francophone Quebec does not speak with one voice.

I went back this year, not because they had any anglo bands on the ticket, but because I was free that night and there was this big free rock concert happening, so why not? I got to listen to some Galaxie and Karkwa with thousands of other people in weather that varied from clear to drizzle.

At one point during the night, as I was tweeting beside the stage, I got tapped on the shoulder and looked up to see the night's emcee, MC Gilles introducing himself to me. Since he has 20,000 twitter followers and I only have about 3,000 (and because he's on half a dozen TV and radio stations and I'm on none), he's more famous than me, so it was an honour to meet him. I also encountered some other interesting characters.

But the night was about the music, not networking with the long-haired masses. As Karkwa was on stage, they invited on a special guest, Patrick Watson, to perform with them. Many in the crowd were already aware of the surprise, but he still got a huge cheer when he was brought on stage. They performed a song in French, and another in English, and the crowd ate it up. It didn't matter what language they sang in (and really, at a rock concert, few people can make out the lyrics anyway), that front row of young girls wanted to take these men home with them.

Rue Frontenac's Philippe Renault was there (this event attracted a lot less journalistic attention than it did in 2009), and summarizes the night. The story includes a photo of Watson in a Quebec flag T-shirt, which the fans appreciated.

That's not to say the crowd was anti-separatist or anything. Speakers who advocated Quebec independence (including now-former-PQ MNA Louise Beaudoin, who represents Rosemont) were heavily cheered as well when they gave their vive-le-Québec-libre speeches. It's silly to think that pro-sovereignty speeches will ever be absent from St. Jean festivities (though it would be nice if divisive political speeches in general would be toned down a bit). But this event was about people wanting to have some fun, celebrate their music and their heritage, and welcome all to the party.

And yet, I could easily have been the only anglo among the 9,000 people in that park.

I'm an anglophone Quebecer. I can't change my birthplace, my family history or my mother tongue, nor do I have any desire to. I live here because I love this city, warts and all, and I love Quebec. I celebrate its culture and its people, whether they speak English, French or Klingon. I watch its television, read its newspapers and talk to its people, and the vast majority of those things are in French.

It's days like this that I wish I wasn't seen as some exception to the rule. I wish more anglophones took a serious interest in some of the great stuff that's produced by Quebec artists. I wish as many anglophones could identify Véronique Cloutier, Éric Salvail, Damien Robitaille and Louis-José Houde as can identify Rufus Wainwright, Leonard Cohen, Terry DiMonte and Mutsumi Takahashi. (I also wish the same was true for francophones.)

And I wish more anglophones would take the initiative to make themselves part of Quebec's culture as much as I wish that Quebec's culture would open its arms to us.

I could go on, but I want to go to this party at Parc Maisonneuve. I hope I'll see you there.

Bonne Fête nationale à tous les québécois. Vive le Québec ivre!

Fête nationale at Maisonneuve Park

UPDATE (after the Fête nationale at Parc Maisonneuve): I got to the concert pretty late. Fortunately I recorded it on Radio-Canada so I didn't miss anything. I saw the best parts in person, including a tribute that Rufus and Martha Wainwright did to their mother, Kate McGarrigle, who died in January 2010. They were warmly greeted by the crowd after Guy A. Lepage's introduction that described McGarrigle as building a bridge between Quebec's two solitudes.

They sang in French, songs that the crowd wasn't familiar with (certainly not as much as they were with those of Éric Lapointe and Robert Charlebois), which was probably why many who were far from the stage didn't pay much attention.

There's a bit of controversy here, in that the Wainwrights were apparently not allowed to sing in English. That's still unfortunate, and probably more a symptom of the fact that this concert is run by the highly political and anti-anglophone Société Saint-Jean Baptiste than evidence of a desire to censor minority cultures in Quebec from the government or artists. I think the Wainwrights' choice of songs was good, and they should probably have been sung regardless, but it would have been nice if that choice was theirs.

All that said, it was nice to see them there, to see Kate McGarrigle recognized as an important Quebec artist by Lepage and the concert, and an acknowledgment that anglo Quebecers are Québécois too.

On my way to the metro station afterward, I noticed that a group behind me was chatting in English. So I guess I wasn't the only anglo there.

Maybe Quebec is changing. By baby steps, to be sure, but still changing. And dare I say it, it's changing for the better.

Related Posts

• Scènes de l’Autre St-Jean
• C’est quoi le 24 juin? (UPDATED)
• Bonne fête, Québec

I biked to Parc le Pélican last night to see l'Autre St-Jean (yeah, that l'Autre St-Jean). I got there after the anglo acts, but early enough to take some pictures of the party and hear some songs from Malajube before I left.

Here are the best of my pics:

Big parties are always an excuse to hand out free crap.

Aww look at that diversity. (I'm being sarcastic, of course - that's the flag of the Jeunes patriotes du Québec)

Shhh, it's an anglo reporter! Don't expose his true identity!

Volunteers patrolled the parc throughout the night picking up garbage, and boy was there a lot of it.

Security was searching bags for contraband alcohol

I couldn't help but wonder: What if this said "Canada" instead of "Italy"?

Lineups for the bathrooms were huge. I'm glad I didn't have to smell inside there.

This one won the prize for most giant Quebec flag

If nothing else unites us as Quebecers, it's beer

Your Hungarian flag is upside down. Or your Italian flag is sideways.

The band asked everyone to turn on their flashlights, lighters and cellphones, with moderate success.

Many people gathered along the exterior fence where they could drink their beer from home

Hopping the fence was strongly discouraged. This guy got security panicking because he wouldn't go back.

Sunsets are great for watching, bad for photos, especially when nobody turns on lights over the crowd.

Blue ... lightsabres? ... were in ample supply.

Les Dales Hawerchuk are named for a former Winnipeg Jets player, but don't worry, they're singing in French

Media photographers got to stand right next to the stage.

Giant ball with a fleur de lys got bounced around a lot. Vive le Québec gonflable!

The RDI van must have needed about 20 minutes to back its way out of the park along a narrow path through the crowd.

Ah, l'amour...

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• Vive la Fête nationale – it’s our holiday too
• C’est quoi le 24 juin? (UPDATED)
• Bonne fête, Québec

As an anglophone Quebecer, it always annoys me when people confuse "Québécois" with "French-Canadian". Not all Quebecers are francophone, and not all francophones in Canada live in Quebec.

It's not just the Rest of Canada that does this, it's also many of the Québécois themselves. Us anglos are really better off living in Toronto, where we belong. And French-speaking Canadians outside Quebec are ignored because they won't be part of the new sovereign country anyway.

Thankfully, these views aren't shared by the majority. Which is why I'm heartened at the near-universal outrage in the comments section of an article by La Presse's Martin Croteau about two anglophone bands being banned from Fête Nationale celebrations on June 23. (The fact that hell is being raised by francophone publications (see also Voir, Bang Bang, Josée Legault) instead of just The Gazette, CJAD, CTV or The Suburban is also nice. Those outlets would be quickly dismissed for bringing up stories like this first.) There's even a petition going around to bring them back (with requisite Facebook group).

It seems that the Autre St-Jean organizers were getting pressure from Fête Nationale directors (read: SSJB) and others to remove Bloodshot Bill and Lake of Stew from their event, even to the point where protests were threatened if they were allowed to go on. Though both are Quebec bands, their songs are in English, and that's just not right, they argue. Fête Nationale is about celebrating a French Quebec.

This, of course, comes mere days after celebrating the fact that they were including anglophone bands and being more inclusive.

UPDATE (June 15): A short, bilingual message posted on the event's website says they are "maintaining" their list of invitees, including the two anglo bands:

Montreal, June 15th 2009 – As the producer of L’AUTRE ST-JEAN, we, C4 productions, have been mandated by l’association Louis-Hébert to create an alternative musical event to celebrate our National Holiday.  In that sens, we maintain our choices for the line up of the event with Malajube, Vincent Vallières, Les Dales Hawerchuk, Marie-Pierre Arthur, Lake of Stew et Bloodshot Bill which represents forty minutes of anglophone music on a six hour show.

We wish that the event on June 23^rd at Park ‘du Pélican’, which is, in our opinion, in the image of Québec and Montreal in 2009, will be peaceful.

More info will be communicated wednesday.

Mind you, in Quebec City, it's still French-only.

Whether or not they'll actually get to play, I think back to the basic question: What is the Fête Nationale supposed to be about anyway? Is it about language, culture, or about the province of Quebec?

If Wikipedia is to be believed, the Fête Saint-Jean-Baptiste was about language and culture before the Quebec government got its greedy little paws on it. It was about French culture, and by that logic you might consider having only francophone bands perform at such an event.

But the Quebec government turned it into the civic Fête nationale holiday, wrapping it in the fleur de lys, blocking off non-Quebec francophones and making it to Quebec what Canada Day is to Canada.

Perhaps it's because of their proximity on the calendar, combined with the political Quebec-vs-Canada divide that's overwhelmed our politics over the past half century that people see an equivalence. Patrick Lagacé suggests if we turned this around - francophones being banned from Canada Day celebrations because of threats of protests from Albertans who want it to be English-only - that the outrage would be much higher.

If we accept that le 24 juin is a civic holiday about celebrating the state, then the comparison has some credence. The only catch is that Quebec wants to be unilingual while Canada does not.

But if it's about culture, then a more apt comparison would be with St. Patrick's Day in Quebec (indeed, the holiday has its genesis from those who wanted a celebration of the Québécois on June 24 like that of the Irish on March 17). And anyone who's been to a St. Paddy's parade in this town knows they're very liberal when it comes to who can call themselves Irish. It's not just Scottish pipe bands that slip by. Ukrainians, Israelis, Chinese are all welcome. Just put a shamrock sticker on your cheek and some green in your beer and you're accepted into the club. So even then, anglophones (and any other language) should be welcome.

Provincial civic holiday, or francophone cultural celebration? Which is it? And which should it be?

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